Renault push promotes stress-reducing Latitude

Not a very good ad, hardly original paying ‘homage’ to Braveheart. They’re not the first and sadly, probably won’t be the last.

I think you’re talking about the Ikea ad Jack!

The stresstestdrive is however very original. What a great and refreshing departure from the normal car sales crap.

The true believer in me really wants to like this. The cynic in me thinks that if you knew you were being filmed for a car ad you’d probably, ahem, ‘adjust’ your facial appearance to be a little more smiley and appear less stressed. But who knows, maybe the car really is that pleasent to drive.

Hardly a robust research methodology. I’m sure if someone gave me a better car to drive I’d be less stressed – until the novelty wore off.

From the graph, the Renault is still keeping the driver on the “Want to Hit Someone” side of stressed more often than not. Not exactly the most convincing results in the world. That’s probably why they show it for about half a second.

And showing a mum getting touched in places she hasn’t been touched in a long time with kids in the back seat is just a little creepy.

Nice idea. I like the use of the facial recognition in situ in real-life situations.

Adam, I have a question. Was the Latitude tested only against their existing car? I was just wondering whether it was the “we’re out of a shit-box and into a nice new car” effect or the “we’re out of a shit-box car and into a nice new Renault Latitude” effect.

Either way … kudos.

I like that it diverges from the dreary list-of-options-read-out-over car-beauty-shots.

I think the rigour of the “stress test” comparison and apparent facial recognition testing is visual theatre and “puffery” that some are taking too literally…

Insight works and execution clearly engages. Nice.

Would be interested to see how this works across all channels in the purchase journey. Also if this will become a marque positioning over a model position.

It’s all about the experience when buying a car and the dealer is often where it falls over.

Ummm…first question to mind…exact same driving conditions for each test? Second question to mind…did he have sex before leaving for work in the Renault?

I work in advertising and they lost me at 1:30

what a crock

Hi Stacey you’ve either found your way onto the wrong blog, or you have a personal or professional vendetta against one of the agencies involved. The idea looks to have a strong strategy, and insight supporting it and is really nicely executed. So saying something so purile and dismissive says more about you than it does the idea. Most of the above, either supporting the idea of not is at last a considered opinion.

i’ve been in two minds about this one. i like the spin on driving stress and the demonstration (whether manipulated or real) of a low-stress car. But then you go to the website and it’s all so over-engineered and earnest about this big experiment – as a punter who cares?

A great challenge, strategy and execution for Naked, and I’m sure they are already preparing the award submissions.

But with the insight or idea of the “car that reduces stress levels” it’s a pity the client isn’t prepared to back it with some serious ATL spend to take that position. I’m yet to see one of these “integrated content/social/web” campaigns get any real traction out there in the world. Look at the crap level of views/likes garnered so far on the website…..it’s pitiful.

I just bought a Renault a couple of months ago and think they deserve a lot more visibility than they have for quality of the cars and bang for your buck, but they aren’t going to get there with head up the ass stuff like this.

Back yourselves Renault, spend some money and take the place in the market you deserve.

Initially I didn’t like it at all – reviewing with cynicism. Why weren’t the tests conducted against their nearest competitors in the category? What year, make and model were the original owners cars? Why am I now watching the third TVC when I’m don’t even fall into the target demographic? Renault ewww, even ya mum wouldn’t drive a Renault?

But the idea is much lmore top level than the stress test itself. The idea is introducing something new and something rather ownable for Renault and this could be, if executed correctly, a rather thorough campaign. Destress is a new territory for the category and it’s never been more relevant.

Strong insight – good work.

I like the proposition that the Renault Latitude is the car that reduces stress when driving. It’s single-minded and feels fresh and distinctive. I can imagine that drivers considering the purchase of a new car might put the Latitude onto their consideration set if they were exposed to this campaign idea. (I don’t care that the research methodology has some holes in it)

The trouble is, I can’t see how enough consumers are going to see these films without the assistance of a broadcast channel to build interest. I think the NAB ‘honesty’ experiments for credit cards probably get it right because they’ve included a broadcast element.

It’ll be interesting to see how many views they get…

Interesting point Version. Would work well on TV but format wise very tricky to tell a thorough story in a 60 or even a 90.

Still love the thinking.

5.13. I’m with you. Although they are supporting this by the sounds of it in live activations in the corporate channels. As an idea as a whole – I like it. It feels fresh, esp for this space. I like the Top Gearish vibe too. It’s entertaining.

Will they be doing any print or tv work to support further? If so when does this come out?

This is the latest example of the new LWH (Look What Happened) genre. NAB bank did it brilliantly with their “we dropped a fifty on the ground and look what happened”. NRMA cleverly drove around the joint letting strangers hail a car and drive it and look what happened. K mart have done a “we put 200 women in a supermarket with low prices (and a TV director) and looked what happened?”. And now look what happened when Renault applied facial recognition to drivers’ faces. What happened this time was, I never want to sit through this irritatingly rational bla ba bla again.

Good comment Peter.

Look what happened when we took the Whopper off the menu at Burger King. Look what happened when we sailed a pub from New Zealand to London. Look what happened when we dropped a new Toyota FJ cruiser in the middle of the desert. Look what happened when we asked a budding restaurateur to build a treehouse restaurant using only the yellow pages. Look what happened when we asked a groom to organise his own wedding in a week using only a Windows 7 loaded PC. Look what happened when we hid a pizza restaurant that was only promoted via Yellow Pages. Look what happened when we built a giant playground for adults in Circular Quay. Look what happened when asked a Perth taxi driver to take passengers on a 6,500 journey around beautiful Western Australia.